Procter and Gamble Company

On 12 April 1837 William Procter and James Gamble produced and sold soap and candles.

William Procter was an English storekeeper and candle maker. James A. Gamble an Irish soap maker. Both men had apprenticed in their respective trades made the way separately to Cincinnati and settled in to begin business.

They married sisters – Olivia and Elizabeth Ann Norris. During sharp economic downturn in 1837, their father in law, Alexander Norris, suggested that the two entrepreneurs unite their operation.

The company grew steadily as the two men made good use of the nation’s rivers and developing railway system to transport good place to place.

By 1859, they were selling $1 million worth of products. Procter and Gamble was the leading supplier of soap and candles to Union troops during the US Civil War (1861-1865).

In 1860, realizing that a war was imminent, Procter and Gamble sent William and James Norris Gamble, his cousin to New Orleans to purchase a large supply of rosin, which as necessary for making soap.

When the Civil War erupted several months later, Procter and Gamble had more suppliers that their competitors for making soap.

In 1886 Procter and Gamble started production at the Ivorydale factory a facility recognized for its progressive approach towards creating a pleasant work environment for its employee.

Procter and Gamble continued to expand its product lines. Its Head and Shoulders became one of the world’s leading antidandruff shampoos.

Procter and Gamble turned to radio advertising early in the 1920s. Camay soap was the first Procter and Gamble product to be advertised on network radio.

In 1930 Procter and Gamble established its first overseas subsidiary in England and it built a manufacturing company in the Philippines in 1935.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Procter and Gamble acquired Max Factor and Noxell, two beauty products companies that produces for use on hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
Procter and Gamble Company